Original God, But Chat Group

Li Yue didn't plan to get involved in Ichigo Kurosaki's daily monster-fighting antics in the Human World, but once Ichigo entered the Soul Society, he definitely wanted to jump in and have some fun!

"No problem, I'll notify you in the group when the time comes."

Aizen didn't mind Li Yue's involvement either, because he trusted Li Yue to know his limits—he might stir things up, but he wouldn't affect the overall plan.

"Then."

Li Yue drew the Enma's Blade again.

"Sever the world!"

87. That Toy Salesman Who Deeply Loves Liyue

"Li Yue, where have you been the past few days!"

"Another world."

"Oh, another... wait, what did you say! Another world!?"

Inside the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Hu Tao stared wide-eyed at Li Yue.

"Yeah, what's wrong with another world?"

Li Yue looked completely matter-of-fact.

"Everyone knows—Zhongli knows, Nahida knows, even that Venti guy from before knows. And I'm already a person from another world, so this is pretty normal, right."

"Uh..."

Hu Tao was a bit dazed. That did make sense—Li Yue himself was from another world, so being able to go to another world was also per...

"How could that be normal! You can just leave Teyvat and go to another world whenever you want!?"

"Yeah."

"And they all knew, but I didn't! No way, you have to take me along too!"

Even though Hu Tao was usually busy burying people, she was still a young girl at heart, and she wanted to have some fun.

"Next time, I'll take you next time."

"You promised!"

Hu Tao was thrilled to have Li Yue's guarantee.

"Speaking of which, where are Zhongli and Nahida? Out for tea again?"

"Yep, Zhongli went out early this morning, but it's not tea this time—I heard some foreigner invited him to dinner."

"And ever since you brought Nahida back, Li Yue, that guy Zhongli always has an excuse. He kept putting off delivering the cemetery plots, and every time I tried to lecture him, he'd use Nahida as a shield. Now I can't even get a word in, and with this foreigner looking for him, I have even less time to scold him. Sigh~~~"

Hu Tao spread her little hands helplessly and let out a resigned sigh.

"Hmm?"

Li Yue's eyes lit up as he listened.

"A foreigner invited him to dinner? Where?"

"What, you want to go eat too?"

Hu Tao stared at Li Yue suspiciously.

"No, I mainly want to see what this foreigner's like. So far in Teyvat, I've only met people from Sumeru and Mondstadt—I'm curious what folks from other nations look like."

"What else could they look like? Two eyes, one nose, one mouth, right?"

No, no, my adorable Hu Tao. The Rite of Descension is coming in a few days, and this foreigner coming to see Zhongli now isn't just any foreigner—he's a toy salesman who deeply loves the land of Liyue!

From a temporary farewell to the eastern capital to an eternal farewell to the eastern capital! His love for this land runs deep!

Just kidding—he did go back to Snezhnaya in between, but only for a banquet.

"Anyway, just tell me where they are."

"Hmm, probably either at the Liuli Pavilion or Xinyue Xuan. Zhongli said the foreigner's pretty rich."

"Alright, alright, I'll go check it out."

"You're really going!"

Hu Tao looked at Li Yue in surprise.

"Yeah, I haven't eaten anything today, so I can just mooch a meal now."

"Fine, go ahead then. I've got things to do, so I'll pass."

Hu Tao waved Li Yue off, signaling he could go on his own. Li Yue didn't waste any time and headed straight out of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

Xinyue Xuan and Liuli Pavilion weren't far from the funeral parlor—just a few minutes' walk. Li Yue said he was looking for someone at the entrance of each, and found Zhongli and the foreigner who was treating him to dinner inside Xinyue Xuan.

But unlike what Li Yue had expected, it wasn't just Zhongli and the foreigner eating there—Nahida and Venti were also present.

"Huh? Isn't that Li Yue? You're back?"

Venti spotted Li Yue and immediately greeted him.

"What are you doing here?"

Li Yue asked back out of habit.

"What do you mean, 'why am I here too'? My friend, am I not allowed to be here?"

Venti's face was full of grievance.

"Didn't you say a Foreigner was treating Zhongli to a meal? Did that Foreigner invite you too?"

Li Yue looked at Zhongli curiously, his eyes carrying a questioning intent.

Zhongli sighed helplessly and began to explain.

"Mr. Tartaglia from Snezhnaya did indeed invite me to dinner, but on the way we happened to run into this bard from Mondstadt. He claimed to be a close friend of yours, Li Yue, and also knew Nahida. Nahida confirmed that she did know him, so we simply decided to bring him along."

From Zhongli's expression, Li Yue could see reluctance—he really hadn't wanted Venti to tag along. But Venti had pulled out Li Yue's connections, and Nahida had directly acknowledged him without denying it. Besides, Tartaglia was also curious about Li Yue, so they just let Venti join them.

"That's right, we just sat down and haven't started eating yet. Li Yue, your timing is perfect."

Venti explained happily.

Since the host himself said it was fine, Zhongli naturally had no grounds to object. And so the scene unfolded of the three of them dining with Tartaglia. If that wasn't a big deal, what was? Tartaglia would probably never experience a bigger scene in his life.

That's right, the one treating them to dinner was that Snezhnayan man who deeply loved Liyue—Childe Tartaglia!

"Tartaglia?"

Li Yue pretended to be puzzled, looking at the only unfamiliar face present.

"You must be the Liyue Adeptus, Venerable Adeptus Li Yue, who defeated Dvalin in Mondstadt!"

"Venerable Adeptus Li Yue?"

Li Yue couldn't help but lean his head back slightly. When did he get that title?

"That's right, the Venerable Adeptus Li Yue from Liyue, who defeated Dvalin that plagued Mondstadt and made the East Wind Dragon Mondstadt's guardian once more. This news has been officially announced by the Knights of Favonius in Mondstadt. Even I, far away in Snezhnaya, have heard of it."

Good grief, how come I didn't know about this? Was it because I barely read any official announcements while I was in Mondstadt?

To be honest, Li Yue was a bit stunned. He hadn't expected that Amber's misunderstanding would lead to him being labeled an Adepti.

"I originally thought Venerable Adeptus Li Yue would be a mature, middle-aged Adeptus. I never expected him to be so young!"

Clearly, Childe only knew the announcement that Li Yue was an Adeptus, not what he looked like.

"Wait, what did you just say your name was?"

"Ah, right, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Tartaglia, from Snezhnaya..."

Since they had just sat down, Tartaglia hadn't had a chance to state his identity yet. But Li Yue didn't plan to give him that chance.

"Tartaglia, I know you!"

"Huh?"

Li Yue's words left Tartaglia puzzled.

"You know me?"

"That's right. Because of my abilities, I once had the chance to visit Snezhnaya. There, I met a child, and from him, I learned about you, Tartaglia."

"A child?"

Childe was confused, but then a bad feeling crept over him!

"Ah, that child said his brother, Tartaglia, was the best toy salesman in all of Snezhnaya! That's you, right?"

"Toys?"

Venti looked at Childe.

"Salesman?"

Nahida also looked at Childe.

"..."

Zhongli looked at Childe too.

The smile on Childe's face froze.

And Li Yue, taking the opportunity, looked at Zhongli.

"So, is our Wangsheng Funeral Parlor now going to partner with Snezhnaya to start a toy sales business?"

"..."

88. Dada Duck, a Liyue Native Doesn't Lie to Another Liyue Native

"Even though I only met him once, that child was named Toco, right? I'm not mistaken, am I?"

"Yes, his name is Toco."

"He also said your best-selling toy was called the Primo Geovishap. That's the name, isn't it?"

"Uh... yes, that's the name."

"What do you know, my memory's pretty good. I only heard the name once, but I remembered it!"

"Hehehe."

On the table, the group had grown from four to five. Li Yue sat beside Tartaglia, patting his shoulder and chatting away, though the smile on Tartaglia's face remained strained.

Following the Tsaritsa's orders, he had come to Liyue to scheme for Morax's Gnosis. Honestly, when he first received this command, he was stunned. Even back in Snezhnaya, he knew the name of the Vago Monarch, Morax—the oldest of the warrior gods. Going after his Gnosis, with no help from fellow Harbingers? Your Majesty, are you serious?

But the Tsaritsa's orders must be carried out! Tartaglia set foot on Liyue's soil with unwavering resolve.

Per the Tsaritsa's instructions, he was to find a man named Zhongli, who would offer assistance.

As expected of Her Majesty—she already had Liyue thoroughly mapped out!

Though the Tsaritsa had provided plenty of help, Tartaglia still did his own investigating. As a Fatui Harbinger, he knew that much.

And that was how he learned the news: Li Yue, the Venerable Adeptus of Liyue, had helped Mondstadt resolve the Dvalin disaster and had recently returned to Liyue.

That Liyue had Adepti was common knowledge across all of Teyvat. The Vago Monarch was even called the progenitor of all Adepti, but most people knew little about them. Now that an Adeptus had actually surfaced, Tartaglia was quite intrigued.

As someone who grew stronger through battle, Tartaglia yearned for a fight with a legendary Adeptus!

But the current situation seemed a bit off.

"Dada Duck, let me tell you—if you want to work with Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, finding Zhongli is useless. You should come to me or the director. That guy Zhongli's made of stone; if you expect him to do business with you, you'll go broke!"

Li Yue slung an arm around Tartaglia's shoulder, pointing at Zhongli as he offered his advice.

"Ah? My name is Tartaglia, not Dada Duck. And I heard Mr. Zhongli is very learned, so I thought..."

Hearing Li Yue's words, Tartaglia couldn't help defending Zhongli—after all, the Tsaritsa had told him to contact this man.

"No, no, no. Don't be fooled by appearances. Zhongli's got some stuff in his head, sure, but that guy has zero sense of money. If you follow him, you'll get the short end of the stick, got it?"

Li Yue earnestly advised Tartaglia. He genuinely worried for this naive, honest Snezhnayan. Do you have any idea how this whole thing plays out? You get tricked at every turn, even by your own colleague, then Blondie beats you black and blue, your colleague runs off with the goods, you get wanted in Liyue, and you have to flee far away—cheated out of money and feelings, poor thing.

"Trust me—I'm a Liyue Adeptus! Would a Liyue Adeptus lie to you? Liyue people don't cheat Liyue people!"

Hearing Li Yue invoke his Adeptus identity, Tartaglia hesitated. If it was an Adeptus speaking, it should be true, right? But Zhongli was still the man the Tsaritsa had told him to contact.

Surely he wouldn't dare deceive Her Majesty? And besides...

"I'm from Snezhnaya!"